I understand you now can hear everything in the mayor’s race by going to www.hometownkeywest.com and clicking on the You Tube icon about half way down the right side of that homepage, and then by going to the 1 hour 10 minute mark. Hometown might wish to notify the candidates and its members that the entire audio now can be heard at that link.

If I recall correctly, [mayor candidate Margaret] Romero has made statements indicating that she didn’t have any grave concern with the aggressiveness and deadly force utilized by the KWPD in securing Mr. Eimers’ arrest.

If Romero is not troubled nor inquisitive by the ‘Eimers’ Killing’, I believe it’s fair to speculate that she will stand by the KWPD’s present version of events, which led to Mr. Murphy being shot and critically injured by one of their officer’s with a Taser.

[Mayor] Cates is a non-starter. It’s his police department. The buck stops with him. He is ultimately responsible for the actions and conduct of his police chief and officers.

Karma is an irrefutable principle of the universe. For every action, there is an evenly distributed reaction, directed at said source. Matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. The evil generated by the actions of all human beings, not only has created events impacting the world; it has birthed the anguish, torment and suffering residing within the purveyors of injustice.

In this nation, theoretically, no one is above the law. It would do much for our citizens, if this proposition were adhered to in a timely manner. Allowing the forces of Karma, the majestic methods sometimes necessary, without being overly concerned…

Blessings & Respect,

John

I replied:

Morning, John –

A few thoughts.

Although Mayor Cates had no authority to tell the Police Department what to do, that authority resides in Chief of Police Donie Lee, who answers to now City Manager Jim Scholl, who himself answers to the entire City Commission on which Mayor Cates sits and has one of seven votes, in a sense it is Mayor Cates’ police department, in that he is the mayor, and thus he is the city’s ambassador, and it falls on him, because he is the mayor, to set the tone for the city, and to be its visionary, and to speak for its soul, as well as for its body, and in these two horrible KWPD cases he has said nothing, except when goaded by me during a candidate forum, when I asked him and Margaret Romero if they ever were going to apologize to the Charles Eimers family for the KWPD killing their father? Romero answered she didn’t see the police did anything wrong; Mayor Cates answered his heart went out to the Eimers family but he had to wait on the investigation to be concluded. I can surmise, either Mayor Cates had not read the blue paper’s articles on the Eimers case, which is a possibility, I have known him to avoid what he didn’t want to deal with; or, he read the blue paper articles and blew them off and is hoping for something lame out of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, KWPD’s own Internal Affairs, or the Grand Jury and the State Attorney, to use as an escape vehicle. In my experiences with Mayor Cates since he was elected the first time in 2009, he is allergic to anything that reflects badly on Key West, his hometown. Romero is different, in my experience. She is right-wing and likes KWPD just the way it is.

As I wrote to you yesterday, the August 26 primary is a referendum on how the voters feel about KWPD and its two mayor candidate supporters, Mayor Craig Cates and Margaret Romero.

Maybe that info can be obtained, but I think it begs the question, John. Perhaps if you lived in Key West, you will see this situation differently. Although I imagine most people living here don’t want to see it for what it is, given the Citizen does not break these awful cases. Given police problems are not asked of candidates at candidate forums. Given the way Police Chief Donnie Lee has responded to the Murphy case and the Eimers case. Given how the mayor and city commissioners have responded – silence. Given what I perceive as a lot of apathy, but perhaps I’m mistaken; I hope I am mistaken.

I found myself thinking off and on yesterday. in the way last years referendum produced a statement how 74 percent of Key West people feel about cruise ships, not good, the mayor’s race outcome this year will produce a statement how Key West people feel about their police department. If I don’t survive the August 26 mayoral primary, you will know how the people of Key West feel about their police department.

In a nutshell, Charles Eimers was profiled by a KWPD officer as being homeless, living in his vehicle.

Charles Eimers

KWPD long has had a policy, encouraged by mayors and city commissioners and city managers, of being as rough on homeless people as the law allows, and even rougher than the law allows, to persuade homeless people to leave the area. What happened to Charles Eimers on South Beach last Thanksgiving Day, as depicted by the blue paper “cartoon” below, was the direct consequence of KWPD officers believing Eimers was homeless. They roughed him up; unable to breathe, he died. But for the blue paper, KWPD, Mayor Cates, the city commissioners and the city manager, and Key West would have gotten clean away with it.

On same Key West homeless policy, received this yesterday from Kurt Wagner, a part-time vicious Key West van dweller criminal currently on R & R on St. Thomas, American Virgin Islands:

If you have never been homeless, living on the streets of Key west, slept in a doorway, slept by the southern most point, slept in bushes, finding where you can sleep without KWPD finding you, you have no business giving your opinion. A good friend of mine Iraq Vet) worked at a restaurant and spent almost two months sleeping at the southernmost point, before the cops chased her away. (I used to stop 4 – 5 times a week on my nightly bike ride to drop of can goods for her) Why is it our vets, people with or without children being made into criminals for being poor?

The problem is the KWPD has been instructed by the city commissioners to be as hard as they can on the homeless!!!!!! If the city Of Key West would give up KOTS and let the homeless sleep where they want, life would be better for everyone. The homeless disappear after dark, the homeless are not seen or heard from after dark, except for a few on Duval St.

Everyone in Key West talks about the street people. Everyone in Key West whines about them. Once you are secure in your house for the night, do you really care about who is sleeping where? 99.999 % will not steal from you. They just want a place to lay down their head for the night. They just want a place to lay down with their children to be safe for the night. They just want a place not to be harassed by the KWPD. Why is it a crime to be poor in Key West? A homeless person who is lucky enough to have a job, but works until 2AM can’t go to KOTS. They are by default a criminal in the eyes of the the city commission and KWPD.

The homeless are not the problem. The problem is the fault of the mayor and commissioners. They alone caused this problem and whether they like it or not, they “own” it. Their attitude is costing the tax payers millions every year for KOTS, jail, courts and the hospital. I like Sloan’s idea of a drunk tank rather than jail and court cases. If they’re drunk and causing a problem, lock them up until they’re sober, then let em go! That should also be done to tourists and locals.

The homeless are not going away! There are more every day in this country. With the downsizing of our military by the current administration, record home foreclosures, and no jobs available, there will be even more homeless.

Kurt Wagner

A whitewashed shorter version of Kurt’s letter, with a different title, is in today’s online edition of KONK Life – www.konklife.net .

EMAIL TO THE EDITOR

Life on the streets

To the Editor:

If you have never been homeless, living on the streets of Key west, slept in a doorway, slept by the southernmost point, slept in bushes, finding where you can sleep without KWPD finding you, you have no business giving your opinion. The problem is the KWPD has been instructed by the city commissioners to be as hard as they can on the homeless!!! If the city of Key West would give up KOTS and let the homeless sleep where they want, life would be better for everyone. The homeless disappear after dark, the homeless are not seen or heard from after dark, except for a few on Duval St.

Everyone in Key West talks about the street people. Everyone in Key West whines about them. Once you are secure in your house for the night, do you really care about who is sleeping where? 99.999 % will not steal from you. They just want a place to lay down their head for the night. They just want a place to lay down with their children to be safe for the night. They just want a place not to be harassed by the KWPD. Why is it a crime to be poor in Key West? A homeless person who is lucky enough to have a job, but works until 2 a.m. can’t go to KOTS. They are by default a criminal in the eyes of the City Commission and KWPD.

The homeless are not the problem. The problem is the fault of the mayor and commissioners. They alone caused this problem and whether they like it or not, they “own” it. Their attitude is costing the tax payers millions every year for KOTS, jail, courts and the hospital. I like Sloan’s idea of a drunk tank rather than jail and court cases. If they’re drunk and causing a problem, lock them up until they’re sober, then let ‘em go! The homeless are not going away! There are more every day in this country. With the downsizing of our military by the current administration, record home foreclosures and no jobs available, there will be even more homeless.

Kurt Wagner

I wish I could say I enjoyed last night’s political candidate hopeful’s beauty pageant during Hometown PAC candidate forum, which covered the Republican Primary for the US House of Representatives, two local judge races and three local school board races.

I left feeling I wished I had attended the Key West Citizen (Police) Review Board meeting instead, at which the CRB was to take up the Michael Murphy taser case. I attended the Hometown event because I had been plainly told by the angels in dreams to attend it, if I knew what was good for me.

Okay, here’s my redneck down and dirty sentiments of those various races.

Republican Primary for US House of Representatives

Incumbent Joe Garcia was not there. Two opponents struck out, too. As far as I know, none of the candidates in that race want to lift US sanctions against Cuba.

God save the Queen!

Judge Mark Jones vs. challenger Don Barrett

Back in April, I published that people who should know had told me Don Barrett, a former Assistant State Attorney Prosecutor, with a good reputation for that, then in the private practice of law, was being backed by the Acevedo camp. Randy Acevedo once was our elected Superintendent of Schools. His wife, Monique, who worked under him in the school district, embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from the school district. When Randy was made aware of it, he did nothing. When it finally came to light and State Attorney Dennis Ward prosecuted both Acevedos, their cases both were assigned to Judge Mark Jones. By and by, Randy was tired by a jury and was convicted. Judge Jones put Randy on probation. Later, Monique pleaded guilty. Judge Jones sentenced her to eight years in prison. (my recollection) Word on the street had it that many Conchs (people born in Key West) were very unhappy with Judge Jones for how it went with Randy, who was a Conch; of Monique, who was not a Conch, they were not concerned about her sentence.

Right after Judge Jones sentenced Monique, Dennis Ward told me that once upon a time Judge Jones had a wife who did something similar to him, which Monique had done to Randy. I said, hmmm, maybe that’s why Judge Jones was so hard on Monique and went so light on Randy. Monique’s sentence was heavier than Dennis was expecting, and many people, including me, felt Randy should have done prison time. He was the Superintendent of Schools. His duty to the school district, the teachers, the students and his community was far greater than his duty to his thieving wife. Once he found out what Monique was doing, Randy should have gone straight to the State Attorney, or at least straight to the School Board and its attorney. But he did neither.

The other day, a dear friend of mine told me of her experience in a divorce case handled by Judge Jones. I had followed her case for what seemed like forever, but did not know it was before Judge Jones until the other day. My friend’s husband was a sneaky low-down rotten no-good dirty scoundrel, who lied and tricked her into signing home loan documents he said were for one thing, but were for something else entirely, and then he filed for divorce. She ended up with nothing, and was not even awarded attorney fees. She was represented by Bonnie Helms, who seeks the other open judge seat. I told my friend what Dennis Ward had told me about Judge Jones, and said maybe Judge Jones is biased against women.

I’m not voting in that race, either.

In the race for incumbent Judge Tegan Slaton’s seat,

left to right, Tegan Slaton, Jack Bridges, Bonnie Helms

Tegan was not there. He’s having “medical problems”, which he refuses to explain, citing “right to privacy” laws. B.S. This former practicing attorney says anything bearing on a judge candidate’s ability to perform his/her judicial duties is the public’s right to know. Furthermore, I myself have seen Tegan under the influence of something. Two women friends told me yesterday that they have seen Tegan drunk; many people in Key West have seen him drunk, they said. Tegan denies he’s a drunk. But twice recently, he was removed from the bench during a judicial proceeding, because of the way he was behaving on the bench. He should have taken himself out of the race. De Nile ain’t a river in Africa, one of my women friends said. I said, it’s a river in Key West. Both women friends said Tegan’s campaign photo, above, is of when he was considerably younger. I agreed, said he’s way over weight and looks bad when I see him.

As for Tegan’s opponents, Bonnie Helms and Jack Bridges, two experienced local practicing lawyers … I told Jack last night, after his and Bonnie’s part of the forum, that I do not think Bonnie has the grit to deal with the really tough cases judges sometimes have to handle. That judge seat historically has handled lots of Family Law cases: divorce, child custody, alimony and child support, etc. Bonnie is devoted to mediation. I like mediation, am trained in it myself. However, I handled what we called “domestic relations’ case when I practiced law, and some of those cases were horrible. Mediation was not possible. It was a waste of time. I think Jack has the grit to preside over such cases. He also has far more trial experience in other kinds of cases. And, he has a great deal of experience presiding over and deciding cases as a magistrate. I’m voting for him.

In the three school board races, one candidate, Warren Leamard, in the Key West race, impressed this 2012 school board candidate.

Warren impressed me because he seems to grasp that the school district is lost and rudderless; it is not focusing on teaching children correctly; it is not causing children to want to come to school and learn. He has two children in school in Key West. A Jamaican native, Warren is a chef, has his own business, and has lived in Key West a number of years.

Warren, along with all the other school board candidates last night, said the school district and school board serve the children. I disagree. The school district and the school board should serve the teachers, for without happy and competent teachers, the children cannot be served.

Besides what I wrote about Warren above, I really do think the School Board needs an African-American member. Right now, the School Board is five white men. For quite a while, the School Board has been all-white. I saw only two African-Americans at Hometown’s forum last night. Hometown’s events historically are nearly all Anglo.

In the Marathon school board race is two-term incumbent John Dick and retired school teacher Catherine Bosworth …

The defining moment for me was provided by Hometown panelist Naja Girard, co-publisher of the blue paper, telling John Dick that black Key West school children are being bused past two predominantly white Key West schools, Horace O’Bryant and Poinciana, to predominantly non-white Gerald Adams way up on Stock Island. John said that was the first he’d heard of it; he’d have to look into it. I’ve been hearing that for years, and can’t imagine how John, who is seeking his third term, could not have heard about it. Catherine Bosworth said that wasn’t right. I’m voting for Bosworth because of that, and because I really do believe the School Board needs a woman on it, who has taught school, even though my sense is Bosworth will have a really steep learning curve.

In the Key Largo school board race,

I’m voting for incumbent Ron Martin, because he wants even more vocational training for students, he hates state control over our schools, and he could care less where our schools rank in the annual Florida school “national academic championship” rankings, which are based solely on FCAT (standardized test) scores. Ron was a career educator in his prior life, and taught at and was principal of Coral Shores High School on Key Largo, which has the most comprehensive vocational curriculum in the school district.

Over all, though,

I still say the School Board and School District Administration are terminally dyfunctionally insane, and the only possible chance is for each school in the district to vote itself to become a charter school and divorce itself from the control of the School Board and the Superintendent of Schools, who, thanks to the Acevedos, now is appointed by the School Board, instead of elected. A referendum had to be passed to bring that off.

As I wrote in yesterday’s post at www.goodmorningkeywest.com, the angels take my inventory every day and night, and the way I see it, all of the local and national races affect Key West, and so it’s on this mayor candidate, at least, to speak to those races, too.

Sloan Bashinsky
keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Sloan Bashinsky, for Mayor of Key West

About Sloan

Darn, that would take a while. Try the autobiographical pages in the header. Ditto for header menu pages at www.goodmorningbirmingham.com. Hatched and raised there, eventually I ran away from home.
Here's a short list: Born 1942; male; single; accused of all sorts of imaginable and unimaginable things, perhaps some true. Live on Key West of Weird asteroid. Publish something most days on this website, been at that since July 2007. That's heaps of catch-up reading, probably not recommended.